Zion Williamson has spent more time at the Pelicans’ practice facility than in previous seasons, hoping to avoid the injuries that have plagued his NBA career, Andrew Lopez of ESPN said on Zach Lowe’s podcast (video link).
The Pelicans have reached an agreement to sign free agent forward Kaiser Gates to a two-way contract, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Gates, who went undrafted out of Xavier in 2018, spent one season (2021/22) in Israel with Hapoel Jerusalem but has otherwise been playing in the G League since going pro, enjoying stints with Windy City, Maine, and Long Island.
In 40 total appearances in the NBAGL regular season and Showcase Cup for the Long Island Nets last season, the 26-year-old averaged 12.2 points and 5.6 rebounds in 23.5 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .473/.468/.674.
The Pelicans still have several openings on their 21-man offseason roster and had been the only NBA team with multiple two-way slots available, so they won’t need to make a corresponding move to clear room for Gates.
Once Gates’ deal is official, New Orleans will be able to add one more two-way player to join him and Dereon Seabron. Christian Clark of NOLA.com (Twitter link) says he’d be surprised if rookie big man Liam Robbins – who reached a deal with the Pelicans in June – doesn’t end up filling that opening.
Hoops Rumors is in the process of taking a closer look at each NBA team’s current roster situation, evaluating which clubs still have some moves to make and which ones seem most prepared for training camp to begin.
This series is meant to provide a snapshot of each team’s roster right now, so these articles won’t be updated in the coming weeks as more signings, trades, and cuts are made. You can follow our roster counts page to keep tabs on teams’ open spots as opening night nears.
We’re continuing our pre-camp Roster Snapshot series today with the Southwest Division. Let’s dive in…
Dallas Mavericks
- Players on guaranteed standard contracts: 14
- Players on non-guaranteed standard contracts: 1
- Markieff Morris ($200K partial guarantee)
- Players on Exhibit 10 contracts: 3
- Players on two-way contracts: 2
The Mavericks spend much of the early part of the offseason on the hunt for a reliable veteran center, having been linked to players like Deandre Ayton and Clint Capela. They’d probably still welcome a trade for a big man if one falls into their laps, but if not, they seem likely to open the season with a full 15-man roster that features their current 14 players on guaranteed contracts, plus Morris.
Dallas’ Exhibit 10 camp invitees, including Brown, Walker, and Wieskamp, could end up vying to earn the team’s final two-way contract.
Houston Rockets
- Players on guaranteed standard contracts: 12
- Players on non-guaranteed standard contracts: 2
- Boban Marjanovic ($1.3MM partial guarantee), Aaron Holiday ($1.05MM partial guarantee)
- Players on Exhibit 10 contracts: 4
- Players on two-way contracts: 3
It’s extremely unlikely that Porter will play another game for the Rockets — the question is whether he’ll be traded, released, or simply sent home for the start of the season.
Whether or not Porter remains on the roster, Houston is in position to add one more player to its 15-man squad before opening night, since grouping Marjanovic and Holiday with the 12 players with guaranteed salaries would leave one opening.
Memphis Grizzlies
- Players on guaranteed standard contracts: 17
- Players on Exhibit 10 contracts: 1
- Players on two-way contracts: 3
Five games into Morant’s suspension, the Grizzlies will be able to move him to the suspended list and open up an extra roster spot. However, that won’t be possible at the start of the season, so Memphis will have to trade or waive two of its 17 players with guaranteed contracts by opening night. Christopher and Todd appear to be the most at risk, especially if no trade opportunities arise.
New Orleans Pelicans
- Players on guaranteed standard contracts: 13
- Players on non-guaranteed standard contracts: 1
- Players on two-way contracts: 1
- Players who have reportedly reached contract agreements: 4
- Trey Jemison (training camp), Tevian Jones (training camp), Landers Nolley (training camp), Liam Robbins (training camp)
Alvarado is a lock to make the roster, of course, which would give the Pelicans 14 players on standard contracts. New Orleans is a little over the tax and would rather duck below that line (perhaps by trading Lewis) than go further above it, so I wouldn’t expect the team to add a 15th man for opening night unless it can make a cost-cutting trade.
The Pelicans’ primary offseason goal could be finding a pair of players who will join Seabron on two-way deals. Jemison, Jones, Nolley, and Robbins haven’t been officially signed yet, but they could all be contenders for one of those spots.
San Antonio Spurs
- Players on guaranteed standard contracts: 17
- Players on two-way contracts: 3
- Players who have reportedly reached contract agreements: 1
- Charles Bediako (training camp)
Like Memphis, San Antonio will have to trade or release two players with guaranteed salaries before the season begins. A report last week suggested that the Spurs probably won’t make any more cuts before training camp begins, with all 17 of those players on guaranteed deals given the opportunity to make a strong impression at camp.
Of course, some roster spots are more secure than others. Osman, Bullock, McDermott, and perhaps Bassey could be trade candidates, while Birch and Graham will have little trade value and might be the odd men out if San Antonio decides to simply waive two players. The Spurs already removed one veteran on an expiring contract from their roster when they cut Cameron Payne earlier this month.
Previously:
The Trail Blazers have remained reluctant to engage in serious talks with the Heat about Damian Lillard, a source tells Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN said on Tuesday that the two sides haven’t really had trade conversations since July, since Portland’s best hope of getting Miami to increase its offer is to find another team willing to make a serious play for the point guard.
“(The Heat) want Damian Lillard,” Wojnarowski said, per Jackson and Chiang. “They just want him for as little as they’re going to have to give up. They’re essentially daring Portland to go out into the marketplace, which Portland is doing, and see if they can find better. … The goal isn’t to just get Damian Lillard. It’s to get Damian Lillard for as little as you have to give up to be able to still have the ability to put a team around Jimmy Butler, Lillard, Bam Adebayo in Miami.”
While the Heat are reluctant to bid against themselves, other interested teams are wary of giving up significant assets for a player whose preference is to end up in Miami.
“I think there are teams that will trade for him,” Wojnarowski said. “But it’s a little bit of a negotiating crutch where you tell Portland, ‘Hey, I’m not offering you everything we might because we’re taking risk here.’ He has said he only wants to play in Miami. That kind of dulls the offers a little bit.”
Here’s more on Lillard:
- Discussing the Lillard situation in the latest episode of The Lowe Post podcast (YouTube link), ESPN’s Zach Lowe said that some executives around the league have speculated that the Pelicans, who have a handful of extra draft assets, could be a suitor for the Blazers star. However, his colleague Andrew Lopez is skeptical. “It wouldn’t surprise me if they were involved, but as a third or fourth team,” Lopez said of New Orleans. “That would be, I think, the extent that they would try to get involved in a Damian Lillard trade.”
- Later in the same podcast, Lowe said that non-Heat teams with interest in Lillard are concerned that they could be used as a “way station” between Portland and Miami if they acquire Dame and things don’t get off to a good start. In other words, that club could soon find itself in the same situation as the Blazers are now, with Lillard wanting out and once again pushing for a trade to the Heat.
- On Tuesday’s episode of the Locked On NBA podcast, Matt Moore of Action Network said that a handful of Eastern Conference teams, including the Raptors, have “kicked the tires” on the possibility of acquiring Lillard (Twitter video link). As Moore explains, that doesn’t necessarily mean those clubs have been negotiating with the Blazers — it has been more about touching base with Lillard’s camp to gauge just how opposed he is to landing somewhere besides Miami.
The Pelicans were vying for the top seed in the Western Conference during the first half of the 2022/23 campaign before injuries to forwards Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram derailed their season, which ended in a play-in tournament loss.
New Orleans didn’t make major changes to its roster this offseason, but head of basketball operations David Griffin said on Tuesday that the team didn’t want to just sit back and hope for better health luck going forward. Instead, the Pelicans proactively explored new strategies to try to keep their players off the injured list.
“What we tried to do this offseason was not sit there and say, ‘Wow, if we could just be healthy, we could be really good,'” Griffin said, per Christian Clark of NOLA.com. “Because hope is not a plan. But Mrs. (Gayle) Benson (the Pelicans’ team owner) gave us the financial bandwidth to address this in different ways. We came at it from the medical side. We did some very different things there.”
As Clark has previously reported, New Orleans’ sports and performance team will no longer be led by Aaron Nelson, who was let go this summer. The Pelicans have yet to formally announce the changes made to that team. However, according to Clark, Griffin said on Tuesday that the club has hired a physical therapist and that several players have stayed in town during the offseason to focus on entering the season in the best possible condition.
“I can tell you Zion Williamson has been in our gym more than he has in his entire career in the offseason,” Griffin said. “He has been in New Orleans virtually all offseason, which is different.”
Williamson has spoken this summer about dedicating more time and effort to his conditioning and maintaining healthy eating habits. Griffin’s comments on Tuesday suggested that he noticed a change in the commitment level of the former No. 1 overall pick.
“For us, we have certainly learned over the years what we think works and doesn’t work. But a huge part of that is incumbent on him. A huge part of that is, ‘Is he willing to do what it takes to be successful?’” Griffin said. “I think oftentimes, the people you put around a player are judged for their lack of effectiveness when in reality not everyone is giving the same amount. He has reached a point where he recognizes that and is embracing doing his part.”
As Clark observes, Williamson and Ingram have played just 93 games together since they became teammates in 2019, including only 12 last season. Significantly increasing that number in 2023/24 may be the key to contention for the Pelicans.
“We know we have a group that is talented enough,” Griffin said. “We have a group that has the ability. That has the bones of being a good team. What we also know is we haven’t found a way to put it all together. I think what we need to do is continue to work towards that. And if we get to a point where we’re not going to be able to move forward with the group we have, I feel like we are really blessed from an ownership standpoint. There won’t be an impediment to making us better.”
Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado suffered a ankle sprain during a workout this weekend and his availability for training camp is in doubt, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
Alvarado is entering his third season in the league. He’s one of the key backcourt reserves for New Orleans, which is looking to bounce back from an injury-marred season.
Alvarado suffered a stress reaction in his right tibia in February and he was still feeling discomfort earlier this summer. His minimum-salary contract for 2023/24 is fully non-guaranteed, though it’s unlikely his roster spot is in danger.
Listed at 6’0″, Alvarado appeared in 61 games last season, including 10 starts. He averaged 9.0 points, 3.0 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 21.5 minutes per game. He saw action in 54 regular season games as a rookie after going undrafted out of Georgia Tech.
Alvarado isn’t a serious three-point threat (32.2%) but he’s a pesky defender and a solid floor leader. He’s only committed an average of 1.1 turnovers in 18.6 minutes during his two seasons.
Training camps will open in a little more than two weeks.
The Rockets and Grizzlies made some of the splashiest moves of the summer, with Houston inking Dillon Brooks to a four-year deal worth up to $90MM and Memphis trading for longtime Celtic Marcus Smart. The Athletic’s Kelly Iko takes a closer look at both team’s additions and what fans can expect from each player.
Brooks’ play in the first round of the playoffs left much to be desired, as he averaged 10.5 points on 31.2% shooting. That led to some questions surrounding the large sum of his contract, but the Rockets knew what they were getting in the veteran forward, according to Iko.
Houston’s defensive rating hasn’t ranked above 27th in the league in the past three seasons and Brooks, a talented perimeter defender, will help address that concern, Iko writes. Brooks’ stint with the Canadian National Team at the World Cup also showed glimpses of what he can be, and he could end up having success in isolation on offense, according to Iko.
As for Smart and the Grizzlies, Iko writes that it’s a match made in heaven in terms of approach and attitude, with Smart pairing nicely with the “grit and grind” mentality of Memphis. He’s a proven commodity on the defensive end and had a career year distributing the ball last year (6.3 APG) and should help fill the void left by Tyus Jones (traded) and Ja Morant (suspension).
Iko also takes a look at what he expects Memphis’ rotation to look like to begin the year, with Smart starting next to Desmond Bane, David Roddy, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Steven Adams in his exercise. Derrick Rose, Luke Kennard, John Konchar, Santi Aldama and Xavier Tillman would be the first five off the bench in that scenario.
We have more from the Southwest Division:
- After waiving Cameron Payne, the Spurs have 17 players under guaranteed standard contracts, two over the regular season limit of 15. San Antonio Express-News’ Jeff McDonald is not expecting any more players to be waived before training camps begin, suggesting that the plan is to have all 17 compete for a spot (Twitter link). Cedi Osman, Khem Birch, Devonte’ Graham and Charles Bassey are among the players who could be the odd men out.
- The NBA’s new rules on player participation and resting stars will greatly benefit fans who want to come see their favorite star players, writes Rod Walker of NOLA.com. Walker points to the fact that Golden State superstar Stephen Curry hasn’t played in Smoothie King Arena (the home of the Pelicans) since the end of the 2020/21 season, meaning Warriors fans in New Orleans haven’t been able to see their favorite players for several years. The star players affected by this policy must have been named to an All-Star Game or All-NBA Team in the last three seasons, meaning Zion Williamson is subject to the rule but Brandon Ingram is not. Ingram, or any other New Orleans player, would be affected if they were named to an All-Star Game this upcoming season.
- In case you missed it, the Rockets are attempting to trade Kevin Porter Jr. before training camp.
Note: This is an updated version of an article that was sent exclusively to our Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers in June. Click here for more information on Trade Rumors Front Office.
The NBA’s Designated Veteran rule, as we explain in our glossary entry on the subject, allows players to qualify for a maximum salary worth 35% of the cap before they gain the required NBA service time.
Typically, a player is ineligible to receive a maximum contract that starts at 35% of the cap until he has at least 10 years of experience, but the Designated Veteran rule gives a player with between seven and nine years of experience the opportunity to do so if he meets certain performance criteria. This has become colloquially known as signing a “super-max” deal.
The performance criteria are as follows (only one of the following must be true):
- The player was named to an All-NBA team and/or was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in the most recent season, or in two of the last three seasons.
- The player was named the NBA MVP in any of the three most recent seasons.
Since the NBA introduced the concept of the Designated Veteran contract in 2017, 12 players have signed them across seven offseasons. Celtics wing Jaylen Brown became the latest player to join that group this summer when he signed a five-year super-max deal that could become the NBA’s first $300MM contract.
Brown will be the only player who signs such a contract this offseason, but it’s worth taking a peek down the road to see which players are the best candidates to join the list of super-max recipients in 2024 and 2025.
We can start by penciling in another Celtic, Jayson Tatum, for 2024. Although he doesn’t yet have enough years of NBA service to sign a Designated Veteran extension, Tatum met the performance criteria in the spring by earning his second consecutive All-NBA berth.
That means that even if he doesn’t make an All-NBA team in 2024, he’ll have received an All-NBA nod in two of the previous three seasons when he meets the service time criteria next summer, making him super-max eligible. It seems likely the Celtics will offer him a Designated Veteran extension at that time.
Here are some other candidates to watch during the 2023/24 season:
2024
- Bam Adebayo (Heat)
- De’Aaron Fox (Kings)
- Brandon Ingram (Pelicans)
- Jamal Murray (Nuggets)
- Pascal Siakam (Raptors)
Because a player become ineligible for a Designated Veteran extension if he’s traded after his first four years in the NBA, prime candidates like Donovan Mitchell and Domantas Sabonis won’t be able to qualify. Still, there’s an intriguing group of candidates in play for next summer.
Ingram, Murray, and Siakam, members of the 2016 draft class, would have become super-max eligible if they had made an All-NBA team this year. They’ll get another chance in 2024.
Ingram averaged a career-best 24.7 points and 5.8 assists per night in 2022/23, but injuries limited him to just 45 games. While he’s not one of the best 15 players in the NBA, it’s not impossible to imagine the 26-year-old earning an All-NBA spot if he stays healthy and helps lead the Pelicans to a top-four seed in the West. He’s probably a long shot, but we can’t rule him out entirely.
Murray was making his way back from an ACL tear last season, which meant he was subject to load management and wasn’t necessarily at his best from day one. But his postseason performance – 26.1 points per game on .473/.396/.926 shooting en route to a championship – served as a reminder that he has All-NBA upside.
Siakam made the All-NBA Second Team in 2020 and the Third Team in 2022 and received some votes in 2023. However, he still needs one more All-NBA nod in 2024 to become eligible for a Designated Veteran deal. He’ll be a candidate to watch as long as he remains in Toronto for the 2023/24 season. A trade – which would make him ineligible – still looms as a possibility.
Adebayo and Fox are 2017 draftees with just six years of NBA experience, which means that Fox didn’t meet the Designated Veteran performance criteria by earning All-NBA honors in May — he’ll need to do it again in 2024 to qualify for a super-max deal. His performance this past year showed that he’s capable of it.
Adebayo’s path to an All-NBA berth is complicated by the fact that the All-NBA teams will become positionless beginning in 2024. That means voters won’t necessarily have to choose three centers, which may reduce his odds of making the cut.
Still, the field of All-NBA candidates may be more wide open than usual in 2024, since the league is also requiring players to appear in at least 65 games in order to be eligible for one of the 15 spots. That means a player who misses a few weeks with an injury might be out of the running. If Ingram, Murray, Siakam, Fox, and Abebayo can stay healthy and play at least 65 times, their All-NBA odds will increase.
It’s worth noting too that being named Defensive Player of the Year is another way to qualify for a super-max. Adebayo has finished in the top five in voting for that award in each of the last four seasons and is a legitimate candidate to win it at some point.
2025
- Luka Doncic (Mavericks)
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder)
- Jaren Jackson Jr. (Grizzlies)
Doncic, Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jackson were drafted in 2018 and have just five years of NBA experience, so they’re still two years away from having the service time required for a Designated Veteran contract — none of them would be able to sign a super-max extension until 2025. However, they all have an opportunity to meet the performance criteria in 2024.
Doncic and Gilgeous-Alexander made up the All-NBA First Team backcourt in 2023, so if they make an All-NBA team again next year, they’ll have done so in at least two of the three years leading up to the 2025 offseason.
As for Jackson, he missed out on All-NBA honors in 2023, but was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. It’s a tall order, but if he can win a second DPOY award in either of the next two seasons, he’ll make himself eligible to sign a super-max contract in 2025.
The rookie scale extension recipients
- LaMelo Ball (Hornets)
- Anthony Edwards (Timberwolves)
- Tyrese Haliburton (Pacers)
Ball, Edwards, and Haliburton have all signed five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extensions this offseason that project to start at 25% of the 2024/25 cap. If we assume the cap will rise by the maximum allowable 10%, those deals would be worth just shy of $217MM.
However, all three extensions include Rose Rule language. This is another form of the super-max — we can call it the “mini” super-max, paradoxical as that may sound. Unlike a player who signs a Designated Veteran contract, which starts at 35% of the cap instead of 30%, a player who meets the Rose Rule criteria can receive a starting salary worth 30% of the cap rather than 25%.
The performance criteria for a Rose Rule salary increase are essentially the exact same as for a Designated Veteran bump, but must be achieved by the end of the player’s four-year rookie contract. That means Ball, Edwards, and Haliburton would have to make the All-NBA team in 2024 in order to increase the projected value of their respective extensions to $260MM over five years — an All-NBA berth in 2025 or 2026 would be too late.
Each of these three players has an All-Star berth under his belt, so making the leap to All-NBA certainly isn’t inconceivable. Edwards may be the best bet of the three to qualify for the mini super-max, but if Ball and Haliburton can lead their teams to playoff spots, they’d certainly have a case.
The Warriors are continuing to hold workouts with veteran NBA players as they look to fill out their roster, writes Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
In addition to Kent Bazemore and Juan Toscano-Anderson, who were previously identified as working out for the team, Scotto names Dewayne Dedmon, Will Barton, Jaylen Nowell, Stanley Johnson and Derrick Favors as others who have been given tryouts.
Scotto notes that three of those players have previous experience with the organization. Bazemore signed with Golden State for the 2020/21 season, Toscano-Anderson was part of the 2021/22 title team, and Dedmon played four games for the Warriors during his rookie season.
Barton also has an upcoming workout with the Pelicans, sources tell Scotto. He was a starter with the Nuggets for several seasons, but saw his role diminish last year after being traded to the Wizards and then joining the Raptors as a free agent.
Favors recently worked out for the Trail Blazers, Scotto adds. The 32-year-old big man didn’t appear in any games last season, although he signed a 10-day contract with the Hawks in January.
Nowell averaged a career-high 10.8 PPG for the Timberwolves last season, but he hasn’t found a new team, even though Minnesota was believed to be open to a sign-and-trade deal. A report this summer indicated that the Mavericks had interest in Nowell, but nothing came of it.
Johnson, who has been with five teams over the past four years, averaged 5.8 PPG while shooting 45% from three-point range in 30 games with the Spurs last season.
Golden State has 13 players with guaranteed contracts and is expected to fill one of its two roster openings before the start of the season. The Warriors also have one two-way slot filled and commitments for three Exhibit 10 deals, so they can sign four more players before training camp opens.
Having signed his current five-year contract with the Pelicans during the 2020 offseason, Brandon Ingram became eligible for a veteran extension earlier this summer. However, multiple sources tell Christian Clark of NOLA.com that Ingram will wait until the 2024 offseason to explore a new deal with the team.
Ingram’s decision isn’t related to his desire to remain in New Orleans long-term — he’ll simply be eligible for a more lucrative extension next offseason than he is now, particularly if he makes an All-NBA team in 2023/24. Within the organization, there’s no “anxiety” about Ingram’s desire to hold off on contract talks until next summer, Clark notes.
Ingram will earn $33.8MM this coming season and a little over $36MM in 2024/25 before his current contract expires. He could sign a three-year extension this offseason that could be worth up to 30% of the ’25/26 cap. If we assume 10% salary cap increases for each of the next two seasons, that would work out to about $160MM.
If Ingram were to wait until next offseason to sign a new contract, his maximum extension would increase to a projected $221MM for four years (based on 10% annual cap increases). If he makes an All-NBA team and becomes eligible for a super-max contract, his maximum extension would jump to $334MM for five years (again, based on 10% cap increases).
There’s no guarantee that the Pelicans would be willing to make that substantial an offer when the time comes, but the fact that Ingram could lock in significantly more guaranteed money by waiting explains why he’s not rushing to sign an extension before the ’23/24 season begins. Once opening night arrives next month, Ingram will become ineligible to sign an extension until the start of the 2024 offseason.
An All-NBA season in 2023/24 is probably a long shot for a player who has made just one All-Star team through seven years in the league, but the fact that players must appear in at least 65 games this season to qualify for an All-NBA team could open up the door for someone like Ingram. Conversely, of course, Ingram himself hasn’t played more than 65 games in a season since 2017, so the 26-year-old will need to stay healthier this year in order to have a chance to be an All-NBA candidate.
The No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 draft, Ingram averaged a career-high 24.7 points, 5.8 assists, and 5.5 rebounds in 34.2 minutes per game (45 appearances) in 2022/23, posting a shooting line of .484/.390/.882.